What I've Been Up To Lately - September 2024

I love September, the sun is still shining and the weather was A+, plus it’s Jordan’s birthday! This year we celebrated with his family complete with an extra coconut cake (An Alison Roman recipe from Sweet Enough). I took a mini sister trip to Detroit to eat pie and enjoy some live jazz, tried the phyllo pastries at VeraVera (get the hot sauce!), went to Cherry beach with my dog before it started to get too cold, and open houses started back up after the summer slumber. There was a lot going on!

What I Ate

For Jordans birthday this year, we headed up to visit with his family which meant that we were going to be BBQ'ing up some delicious food. We had grilled squid (our first time cooking it at home) and steak. The neices and nephews were good sports and tried the squid too - while they didn't like the chewy texture we were impressed that they gave it a go. And for dessert I made Alison Roman's Extra Coconut Cake from her cookbook Sweet Enough. If you are a coconut lover, this cake is definately for you! It's a show stopper and tastes great the next morning with a cup of coffee.

Around the city, we stopped and tried Elijah's Automatic Flame Broiled in Etobicoke. It's a burger shop owned by the original Burger's Priest owners, and this one did not disappoint. It tasted like vintage Burger's Priest. I got their version of a Big Mac, and their fries are cooked in beef tallow and taste like knock-off McDonald's fries. So, so good!

In between showings, I discovered a new shop called Vera Vera, where their homemade phyllo pastries are getting rave reviews. Between the coils of phyllo dough, this particular pasty was filled with labneh and topped with every bagel spice. It came with a homemade vinegar-based hot sauce, which was super addictive. If you go, ask to get it heated up first.

Being dangerously close to Masa Deli means that we are stopping here when the breakfast craving hits. There breakfast buritto has pastrami, omelette, tallow fried hash (!!!), American cheese, crema, pickles and salsa. No notes.

What I Did

My sister and I decided to go to Detriot for some sister fun! If you haven't been recently, I encourage you to visit. There is some great architecture, live jazz bars, deep dish pizza, and lots of old buildings, many of which have been renovated but still keep their vintage charm (including our hotel, The Siren Hotel!).

A couple of places I'd recommend visiting are Sister Pie, Cliff Bells and our hotel bar The Candy Bar. Sister Pie has been around for a while now, and I've visited whenever i've driven through Detriot in the past. They are well know for their... pies. But they also do incredible cookies too. They have 3 seasonal pies that they make every day and serve them by the slice or the whole pie - which is super tempting. They even have a cookbook (which I own). When we visited, we got their brown butter and plum crumble pie, a pack of paprika peanut butter cookies, and their savory broccoli and cheddar hand pie. We took all of our goodies and walked down the street to Red Hook coffee shop to enjoy a little coffee with our goods.

It was a very cute coffee shop, and they had a drink that was espresso and lemonade, which we tried and did not hate! In the first couple of sips, you are trying to figure out what this taste profile is all about, but then it's pretty good and refreshing.

After dinner, we decided to hit up a classic jazz bar close to our hotel called Cliff Bells. Due to prohibition, it was first a speakeasy in the early 1920s but then opened officially as a live jazz bar in the 1930s. When you walk in, you feel like you are going back in time. The drinks were incredible, and the live music was fantastic. What else could you ask for?!

I also experienced what I will call the best cocktail I've ever had at The Candy Bar. It was the Double Negorni—think of it as an orange creamsicle. Basically, it's a negroni on the bottom, and then it's a negroni within the foam on top. Just perfection, and I will be thinking about this cocktail until the end of time.

What I Read

NTY Cooking – Our 50 Greatest Hits, According to You - I use the NTY Cooking App for a lot of my day-to-day cooking, so getting a round-up like this definitely helps to pull out some stand recipes that I may have glanced over.

The Toronto Star – Ontario home sales are expected to jump by almost 10 per cent next year. But prices won’t rise nearly as much, CREA says - Some interesting news from CREA about what the future holds for Ontario into 2025. It looks like we will see more listings hit the market, but the pricing may continue to hold into 2025, making it still a great time for first-time home buyers. No need to paid buy, wait until you see a home you love!

Toronto Life –The Cult of Wellness – As someone who learned all about holistic nutrition, I know wellness has always been important to me. However, many entrepreneurs don't value their own health and wellness in the pursuit of the #nodaysoff mentality. While real estate definitely can be a rollercoaster, and there are some days when you are always working, it's important to take your breaks when you can. Taking a breather when you're super busy is usually the hardest, but it will help you go further and keeps your mind sharp.

See you all next month!